


Way Down We Go

by etux



Category: The Mortal Path
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Drabble Sequence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-18 01:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14202168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etux/pseuds/etux
Summary: Nerium: A character study in ten drabbles and one playlist.





	Way Down We Go

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write some old fashioned drabbles (aka exactly 100 words long) & I started listening to [krondarling](http://krondarling.tumblr.com)'s awesome TMP [character playlists](http://krondarling.tumblr.com/tagged/Character-Playlist) & then, before I knew it, I was writing a so called character study fic on Nerium. 'So called' bc I have hard time with Nerium. (A fact that I'm sure Nerium would be happy about.)
> 
> So. Each drabble is loosely (VERY loosely - as in, I listened to one song on the playlist on repeat when writing one drabble. In reality the drabbles probably have nothing to do w/ the songs) based on a song on [Nerium's playlist](http://krondarling.tumblr.com/post/170730721215/nerium-oleander-character-playlist-1the) & since the drabble order is the same as the song order, you can listen to the playlist while reading them.
> 
> (Also the name of the fic is the title of one of the songs on the playlist. And and if law school doesn't kill me, I'll make this into a series & do drabble studies for _at least_ Taro and Natalia too.)

I

Nerium opens her eyes. 

\- and she’s greeted by the vast, vast night sky, filled with thousands and thousands of faraway stars, shining light older than existence itself - -

Nerium blinks.

\- - it’s _not_ the night sky, it’s a high, high stone roof, filled with gems and opals and other wonderful things she doesn’t know the names of -

Nerium blinks again.

\- she’s _cold_ , laying on stone, in a place she doesn’t know - -

Nerium sits up.

\- - looking around, there’s nothing but white dust and stone and stone and two out of place wood doors -

Nerium says: “Hello?”

\- _hello? hello? hello? hello?_ the echo answers. 

*

II

The first time there’s _a choice_ , it’s not easy, per se, but it just - happens. Naturally.

A door. 

_Two_ doors.

_White_.

Wood. Ashy. Painted. Solid. A cavern.

_Green_.

Wood. Vibrant. Painted. Solid. A cavern.

She knocks and waits and calls and -

(Hello? Anyone?)

( _Hello, hello, hello? Anyone, anyone, anyone?_ )

(I swear, Melvin, if this is something you’ve done, I’ll never forgive you.)

\- goes through the spring green one.

 

The second time there isn't even _a choice_.

A chest. (Two chests.) Her mother’s hair. (A bottle of something.) Her mother’s hair. _Her mother’s - -_

There’s no choice.

_No choice._

Not for her.

*

III

Swords. Of course they have swords. _Fucking_ swords.

“I don’t wanna cause any trouble. I really, I just would like to know how to go home. - -”

Nerium makes herself look as small and fussy and harmless as she can - which is quite small and fussy and harmless - and curses, _curses,_ all the. Fucking. Swords. In. The. World.

“- - I think I’m in the wrong place, and I shouldn’t be here.”

and

“That’s very true. You sound very boring.”

Nerium curses _fucking_ swords and _fucking_ people _fucking_ carrying them - - and calms herself down by thinking about the dagger hidden in her skirts.

*

IV

The tiefling calls himself Taro and the human is Natalia, or, ‘ _Nat for short_ ’.

They don’t seem to be lying.

_Fools_.

“And what, pray tell, is your name?”

Nerium isn’t a fool.

“Oh, my name’s Meredith. Merry Burrows.”

Magic staircases or not, she’s not about to blindly trust a couple of _strange_ strangers - - - magic goats or not, she’s not - - _sand monsters_ or not, she -

Alright.

She _is_ about to.

Not blindly. But. Maybe nearsightedly?

(Taro is a walking thunder bomb, apparently, and Nat isn’t afraid to punch people. In strange caves that has to be the very _definition_ of trustworthy.)

*

V

_A long way from home_ , Nerium thinks as she looks back at the cave the three of them wandered in for who knows how long. _A real, real long way from home_.

She breathes in the fresh air, the sky, the cold wind - and - it’s not that different from home.

And. 

She has her scissors and her dagger and all of the other things she carries with her safely in her deepest pockets.

(And.)

(She has her mother’s hair - even if it _can’t_ be, it just seems to _be_.)

So.

_A long way from home_ , Nerium thinks. _But still kicking_.

*

VI

Getting accused of a murder you haven’t committed is, Nerium decides, _tiring_.

(Not that she has any experience with getting accused of a murder you have committed, but still. She has to assume it would be more satisfying in a way, knowing you’ve done _something_ to deserve the accusations.)

It’s kind of exciting, sure, but when you wake up in a strange cave system, meet weird people, fight a terrible sand monster, and have to choose between magic chests, you don’t exactly _yearn_ for excitement.

You yearn for a good night’s sleep. 

And some actual comfort, for all’s sake, _dammit_.

*

VII

Fixing up the dress for Nat - sewing pockets and adjusting things - is - - _is_ -

Simple.

Familiar. Calming.

It’s no embroidering (There’s a reason Nerium embroiders and it’s not only because she’s good at it - she also _loves_ it. The way she gets to create something neat, something beautiful. How she can see the progress immediately.) but it’s _something_.

Something she knows. Something non-magical, non-not-Nerium.

It makes her feel like she’s actually in control of something.

Like she knows what she’s doing.

Like she’s not lost.

_Like_ \- -

\- she accidentally pricks herself with the needle.

That too is familiar.

That too is grounding.

 

*

VIII

Nerium sighs.

She’s not a girl anymore. She’s been around for about forty trips down, down the Alfallen’s orbit between the twin suns. She’s seen some _shit_. She’s had the world’s weirdest twenty-four hours. She isn’t easily surprised.

And.

Yet.

A city fallen from the sky in the middle of a scorching desert? Yeah, that would do it.

And you know what else would do it? Someone taking you by surprise in the crumbling ruins of that fallen city and stabbing you in the back, perhaps?

_Yes_.

That. Would. Do it. As. Well.

(Nerium sighs. Some days just won’t end.)

*

IX

Gorgeous cave systems. Waking up in strange places with no memory of getting there. Sand monsters. Goats and choices - -

\- - a human woman and a tiefling man. Human men (boys?) playing dead. Sharing beds. Human men (boys?) _being_ dead - -

\- - murder accusations. Magic. Makeovers. Ghosts - -

\- - other worlds. Sand. Fallen cities. Candles and floating cloaks - -

(There’s moments where she wants to scream. “What is this?” or “What am I?” But she doesn’t. _Oh, she doesn’t_. She keeps quiet. Calm and collected. Cheery and - - - the same. Keeps changes to herself. Keeps _herself_ to herself. Keeps and keeps _._ )

\- - A lizard man. Promises and plans. And - -

*

X

\- - The fight is over.

Nerium feels her heart in her throat. In her ears. _Everywhere_ under her skin. She’s buzzing with - - - relief? excitement? power? - - _something_ , and they -

They did it.

Their plan worked. They killed the Commander and the lizard woman. 

Findex, Taro, and Nat are alive.

_Nerium_ is alive. ( _Feeling more alive than ever?_ )

Except.

_They_ didn’t kill the Commander.

Nerium did.

And. With that thought - - with blood on her face her hands her dress - - she walks to the body of the first person she’s ever killed. 

(Not just killed, _mutilated_.)

Watching the body feels like…a beginning.

 

_Nerium laughs._


End file.
